Neal Heaton
Neal’s Knowledge: What Should a January Throwing Program Consist Of?
A pitcher should be treated like a race horse–carefully groomed and you cannot accelerate that process. When a pitcher picks up the ball for the first time in January, they haven’t pitched off a mound for over two months. I tell my pitchers before I see them on the mound they should have done a bit of long-tossing. You should not be going from inactivity to a mound. I took a lot of precautions to stay healthy in my career, and for that reason I landed on the DL only once–and it was a freak accident during BP while running sprints. Here are some crucial steps young pitchers should be following in order to avoid injury and be at their best by the time the season comes around. You should not be lifting heavy weights at all once you start throwing from a mound. Doesn’t matter how strong you ar...
Neal’s Knowledge: How To Approach the College Recruiting Process
(Editor’s Note: This story was originally published by Neal Heaton in January 2017) One of the things people always ask me is–“how did you get noticed by the University of Miami?” Well, things are very, very different than they were in 1978. First off, the school only recruited from the list of the top 25 or so players in the country and I was fortunate enough to have had a good enough junior year that I was on their list and they found me. For the average Long Island baseball player, though, that may not be an option. On the bright side, there’s so many more resources available to you in 2017 than I had coming out of Sachem HS in the ’70s. So here is my advice given my years of experience involved in this baseball community on how you can pick which college you want to attend based ...
Long Island Sweeps Another Doubleheader, Extend HCBL Lead to Double Digits
The defending Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League champions have been unbeatable as of late. Coming into a crucial doubleheader with the second-place Westhampton Aviators on Sunday, the Long Island Road Warriors carried a five-game win streak including a two-game sweep of the Riverhead Tomcats on Saturday. The flame still burns bright for Neal Heaton’s squad as the league-leading Road Warriors (18-5-0) take both games over Westhampton (13-9-0) on Sunday, 4-2 and 7-4. The first game of the doubleheader featured a pitcher’s duel between LI’s Dominic Savino and Westhampton’s Jonathan Cole. The only runs that took place with the two studs on the bump were off home runs. Tyler Becker opened up the scoring with a solo shot in the bottom of the first to put the Aviators up 1-0. The Road Warriors ...
Road Warriors Return to the Top of the League, Use Power to Halt Red-Hot Ospreys
Road Warriors pick up a 6-4 victory over North Fork Ospreys to move into sole possession of first place pic.twitter.com/hnqkXzhI8Q — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 20, 2018 One week ago, the Long Island Road Warriors hit their first brick wall of the season. They dropped a key game to Westhampton, who they have been trading on-and-off with for first place in the HCBL, and proceeded to go on a three-game losing streak. It was unfamiliar territory for the defending league champions after starting the season winning seven of their first eight games. But that was last week. This week, the narrative is back to what Neal Heaton and his unit are accustomed to. The Road Warriors (11-4-0) are atop the HCBL after picking up a 6-4 victory over the North Fork Ospreys (6-8-2) on Wednesday. T...
Road Warriors Stay Unbeaten, Pick Up Fourth Win in Four Days
The Road Warriors improve their record to 4-0 with a 4-3 victory over Southampton Breakers. The @DigmiNation Player of the Game is Sal Zafonte. He spoke with Justin Paura following the game pic.twitter.com/hTkOOyiLSc — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 6, 2018 When you’re a champion-level team, you don’t always have to play pretty to win ball games. That was the case Wednesday evening for the defending HCBL champion Long Island Road Warriors (4-0). The squad opened up its season with three-run victories in each of their first three games. On Wednesday, the Road Warriors were only able to get four hits on the Southampton Breakers (1-2), but still squeaked out with a 4-3 win at home. Southampton looked destined to snap Long Island’s win streak early. Brian Picone and Ryan Hatten each...
Defending HCBL Champs Continue to Look Dominant
Joey Rosselli spoke with Justin Paura following the Road Warriors victory over the North Fork Ospreys pic.twitter.com/ULHXfdTxYf — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 5, 2018 The Long Island Road Warriors (2-0) are the newest addition to the Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League. They joined the HCBL last year to replace the Montauk Mustangs as the team with the most local players and made an immediate impact, winning the league championship in their inaugural season. This year, coach Neal Heaton’s squad looks in top form to defend its title. After putting up nine runs on the Riverhead Tomcats to win their opener on Sunday, the Road Warriors picked up a 7-4 in their first home contest against the North Fork Ospreys (0-2). Long Island didn’t look like a championship team in the early go...
What Is The Impact of Sabermetrics on Amateur Baseball?
So, the idea of advanced metrics is nothing new to the game of baseball. It has been part of the lexicon of the industry for over a decade and there’s a litany of research done on the matter. This article is not arguing the merits of number-crunching in the game of baseball. For that, I would highly recommend Brian Kenny’s Ahead of the Curve, which does a tremendous job of outlining why Major League Baseball does not value statistics that we grew up with such as RBI and wins. This article is, however, arguing why there’s no reason to get nervous that the implementation of sabermetrics in the professional ranks will have a trickle down effect on amateur baseball. I feel that I am uniquely qualified to speak on this topic since I previously worked for Baseball Info Solution...
Neal’s Knowledge: What Should a January Throwing Program Consist Of?
A pitcher should be treated like a race horse–carefully groomed and you cannot accelerate that process. When a pitcher picks up the ball for the first time in January, they haven’t pitched off a mound for over two months. I tell my pitchers before I see them on the mound they should have done a bit of long-tossing. You should not be going from inactivity to a mound. I took a lot of precautions to stay healthy in my career, and for that reason I landed on the DL only once–and it was a freak accident during BP while running sprints. Here are some crucial steps young pitchers should be following in order to avoid injury and be at their best by the time the season comes around. You should not be lifting heavy weights at all once you start throwing from a mound. Doesn’t matter how strong you ar...
Touching All the Bases-Making Sleep Part of Your Game Plan
by Brendan Duffy, Sr. Certified Sleep Educator –RPSGT When the Tampa Bay Rays began Spring Training this season, they arrived to the ball field later in the day. Based on their collaboration with sleep specialists, the move to a later start time was meant to help the players increase their sleep time and improve their practices. Instead of 9:30 AM, the players reported at 10:30 AM. This is not something new as the New York Yankees and other professional teams also have done this in the past few seasons and the Yankees start even later –at 11:30 AM! So why the changes? The MLB teams and other teams in the NBA and NHL have finally realized that sleep quality and quantity is an important part of their training. It is the foundation of their training on top of which they add the additional n...
Jason Diaz: What I Am Thankful For
(Editor’s Note: Jason Diaz is a 2019 graduate of Kellenberg HS. He fired a CG shutout of St. John the Baptist to clinch the CHSAA championship earlier this year. He has a fastball that sits 90-91 MPH and tops at 93 MPH. He is committed to the University of Miami. The following words are his own.) Thanksgiving really brings out the positivity in people and it makes me think about what I’m thankful for. To me baseball is the greatest thing on this earth and it’s not even close. What kid growing up didn’t want to throw a ball as hard as they can and what kid didn’t want to hit bombs over the fence? The game of baseball has showed me that success isn’t just given to you and it makes me thankful for when the times are tough because it just encourages me to ov...
Neal’s Knowledge: How to Approach The Recruiting Process
By Neal Heaton One of the things people always ask me is–“how did you get noticed by the University of Miami?” Well, things are very, very different than they were in 1978. First off, the school only recruited from the list of the top 25 or so players in the country and I was fortunate enough to have had a good enough junior year that I was on their list and they found me. For the average Long Island baseball player, though, that may not be an option. On the bright side, there’s so many more resources available to you in 2017 than I had coming out of Sachem HS in the ’70s. So here is my advice given my years of experience involved in this baseball community on how you can pick which college you want to attend based on your baseball ability and your academic prowess without wasting your tim...
Will Kennedy: Why I Committed to Hofstra
Editor’s Note: Will Kennedy is a 2019 LHP from Smithtown East. He plays his summer ball with the HDMH Titans. After a terrific summer season in which he went undefeated, he also dominated down in Fort Myers, FL where I watched him throw 4.2 shutout innings with six strikeouts in a victory. He committed to Hofstra University last Friday. The following words are his own.) The recruiting process started for me when Titans recruiting coordinator Tom Downey met with me and my family to go over what I needed to do to prepare for being recruited. He advised to me to figure out a major I was interested in, how far away I was willing to travel for college, and when I should be taking standardized tests. He also outlined how important my GPA would be in getting aid from schools. He was very in...
